Across The Divide (30 page)

“That’s fucked up.” Croygen stretched out, touching Lexie’s new toes.

I wanted to throw up. I always thought when Rapava wanted to cure diseases and disabilities it was with shots of magic or medication extracted from fae. Sprig was my first notion this was not the case. Rapava did not care about healing. He was making, with bits and pieces, his new human race.

“They’re not fae.” Croygen touched the attached legs.

“What?”

“They’re human.”

“Are you sure?” My seer gift was picking up a very dim glow from Lexie.

“Yes.”

“He’s right. I can smell human.” Sprig leaned over, sniffing again. “But there is magic in her blood system.” That was why I was getting a faint glow.

I stared at the legs. He was using human parts? Not fae? In his mission to save the human race, he was now sacrificing them. He would say it was for the greater good.

Sacrifice a few for the many…

My eyes caught on a tiny mark on the snowy-white ankle. I leaned in, my fingers sweeping over a small
SG
tattoo by the heel in blue, yellow, and red. 
Super Girl
. My memory flashed to the cape in the closet I found, when Croygen and I were hiding. I swallowed back bile creeping up. A thought blistered in my mind. 
No
. I looked back to Lexie’s face. I didn’t have time to think about anything but our escape. All of this would take some time to sort out. Time we didn’t have.

“We’ll deal with this later.” I nudged Croygen and wrapped Lexie with a blanket. He stepped up, sliding his arms under her body. She draped limply over his arms.

“She looks like a soggy burrito.” Sprig snorted, then covered his mouth when I glared at him.

Croygen tucked her into his chest, and I ran ahead of him to open the door. I peeked out. The silent hallway felt like it was strung with watching eyes and traps.

“Okay. I’m heading down. Please, don’t come for me…get her out. If the pledge means anything to you, save her life. Not mine.

“Doesn’t work like that.”

“Please, Croygen.”

He stared at me. Then suddenly he leaned over and kissed me. Surprise whisked the air from my lungs. His lips were tender but ardent against mine, capturing the intensity of the moment. He pulled back a breath, his dark eyes sternly looking into mine. “Get out. Whatever it takes. Even if you have to leave him.”

“Doesn’t work like that.”

“Now you understand.” He smiled and whirled around, jogging for the elevator. Lexie’s limp form bobbed up and down.

I watched him round the corner and sucked in my breath. “Hell.” I turned the opposite way, heading for the other elevator. Croygen and I had been through a lot together. We had built a friendship, a bond no one could break. And this was probably more than he had ever let himself feel for a woman in a long time. If ever.

“The scally-wanker better keep his mouth and other body parts to himself from now on,” Sprig griped in my ear.

I ignored him, reaching the elevator doors. I took in a shaky breath.

“You ready?” Sprig asked.

“Are you?”

“For hell?” His tail circled my neck. “Eye, Matty.”

This could end badly in so many ways. More ways than it could end well.

“Let’s go get our Viking asshole.” He lifted his arm in a battle cry.

“Shhhh,” I hushed.

“Let’s go get our Viking asshole,” he repeated in a whisper this time, raising his arm with less gusto.

Every step I took I tried to ignore the growing anticipation a net was about to come down on me, that I was walking into a trap.

As a human or fae, I was a fighter.

And this fight I had to win.

The elevator doors opened. Through the darkness the lights of the lab equipment and monitors sparkled like alien stars. I slipped against the wall and walked as quietly in my boots as possible down the hallway. My neck was damp with nervous sweat, while the code numbers continuously looped in my head.

A panel next to the elevator lit up, sensing motion. Hell. This was probably another trap. A way to monitor people coming and going. I filled my lungs and held my breath. It was too late to turn back now.

“When I go in, I need you to stay out here and keep guard, okay?” I whispered to Sprig.

He held up his thumb and hopped off my shoulder onto the ground, keeping to the shadows.

Okay, this was it.

I punched in the eleven-digit number. The panel blinked in response.

I cringed when the door beeped. The lock releasing sounded like a ton of bricks falling into a metal dumpster in the silent corridor. Giving Sprig one last nod, I opened the door and slipped into the room.

The outer room blushed an eerie yellow from the emergency lights along the floor base. The code to Ryker’s cell was the same code backward. No sooner had I hit the last number than the green panel beeped, releasing its hold.

Nerves in my stomach twisted. I hadn’t let myself think about actually being alone with him. Croygen warned me, but circumstances and my stubbornness won out. Again, I was far too deep to turn back now.

I crept into the inner room, shutting the door behind me. If someone came, I’d hear the door beep, giving me a little warning to hide.

It took me a moment for my eyes to adjust to the solid blackness of the inner the room. Eventually the glow from the emergency lights from the other room bled, giving an outline to the objects in the room. There wasn’t much here, only a bed and some medical equipment. The darker mass of Ryker on the gurney loomed in the middle of the room. His labored breath, like someone in pain, reached my ears.

Emotion took hold and I rushed to his side, my fingers finding his face. Tears filled my eyes as I touched him, my heart slipping into my gut, thrashing around like a wounded bird. “
Please
be all right.” What if we went too far? What if today was simply too much, and I had killed the man I loved?

By having his powers you already have, Zoey
, I thought.

“Ryker, open your eyes.” My hands slid along his jaw, cupping his face. His grown-out stubble scratched my palms. Touching him now was different. Before, I had only been a husk, not letting myself truly experience what it felt like to have him near again.

He stirred under my hand, a slight moan coming from his throat. I leaned in closer and saw his lids blinking, trying to open.

“Ryker, wake up. We need to get out of here.” Not thinking, I unhooked the cuffs on his arms. Freeing him. His eyes opened, his white eyes glowing in the darkness. Absent eyes landed on me like we were strangers.

He sat abruptly. My arms dropped, and I took a step back. He still only wore the gray scrub pants, and his chest continued to leak blood and pus from both new and old gashes. Wounds I gave him.

“You come back for more,
human
?” Disgust twisted the words, his eyes cold and remote. “Carving me up in the day isn’t enough for you?”

“Ryker, it’s me.”

“I know who you are.” He swung his legs down and stood up, his body moved like a coiling snake. “I’ve been waiting to be alone with you for a while.”

This man wasn’t Ryker. A shiver ran down my back. 
Shit.

“Ryker. It’s me, Zoey.” I focused on linking our names, making a connection. Deep down, I believed in those rare moments we had shared, the times his eyes cleared. I felt if he really saw me, he would be able to override the promise.

I was extremely wrong.

“Your name will mean the same to me dead or alive.” His voice was void of feeling. “Nothing.” He fisted his hands, taking a step.

“Fight it, Ryker. I know you are under there somewhere.” I backed up, while out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sprig peek through the gaps of the blinds, tapping the window.

Ryker didn’t even flinch. “All that’s in here.” He pointed to himself. “Is a demon. Well, half—on my father’s side.” He took a step, drawing my attention back to him. For every step he took, I took two back.

Father? Demon? What was he talking about? He didn’t know who his father...

Oh no. No. No. No
. An image of two blond men came into my mind. How did I not see it before? The similarities between them became glaringly obvious. The body frames, strong jaw lines, the Nordic likenesses.

“Vadik?” My mouth dipped open.

A gruesome smirk turned up Ryker’s mouth. “And this half-demon has made a promise to kill you, human.”

We moved at the same time. I went for the door. He bolted for me, reaching me as the door handle rolled in my hand, slipping through my fingers. His hand wrapped around my throat, and he threw me back against the wall next to the door.

“Ryk—” My mouth opened to speak, but he squeezed down, cutting off my words. With a grunt he slammed me again, ripping the air from my lungs. My fingers went to his hands, clawing at them. “
Ry-ker
...”

His lids fluttered, his glassy eyes sparked with life. His hand loosened around my throat, giving me a gulp of air.

“Zoey.” He blinked, his voice low. He dropped me to my feet, his hand falling to the dip at the base of my collarbone.

“Yes,” I whispered hoarsely, ignoring my burning throat. “Stay with me.” I reached out for him. The instant my hand touched his face, his eyes slammed shut, like it burned his skin.

“I can’t fight it,” he whispered.

“Yes. You can.” I drew him closer to me, tipping his forehead against mine, hoping contact with me would help keep him centered. “Remember we do whatever it takes to live and be together. That’s the love I want with you. Whatever the outcome. We fight,”
I said, suddenly reminded of similar lines I said to Ryker in a dream.

He jerked his head up, sucking in air. He blinked, his brows dipping in puzzlement.

Fearful of losing him again, I wrapped my arms around him. “Feel me, Ryker. Remember us. We are more powerful together.” My hands drifted over his back, running up and down his body. The scars, open wounds, and dried blood were jagged under the tips of my fingers.

He breathed out, letting his body fall against mine, pressing my back against the wall. In an instant, his hands moved under my top, roughly grazing my skin. His touch was fire to my system. A barely audible groan escaped my mouth.

His touch grew more eager, pulling me into him. Through the thin cloth I could feel him as he brushed against me. Every bit of him. Wanting me. The friction of the fabric as he moved against me sent heat into my stomach, moving lower.

This was not the time or place. 
At all
. But I couldn’t seem to stop.

His arms went around my ass and pulled me up, my legs wrapping around his torso. He moaned, slamming our bodies back into the wall, his lips crashing down on mine.

Desire exploded in my body. Tuning out the voice warning me to stop, to use this time to get away. But the months of separation, the weeks of pretending to hate him, the guilt of torturing him…it now consumed me, needing an outlet.

He bit down hard on my lip, drawing blood. The pain only triggered more craving for him. I wanted him now. Our breaths became frantic as our mouths moved together with need.

He yanked his head back, his tongue sliding over his bottom lip. He reached to his mouth, blood pooled on his finger. My blood. His gaze went to my mouth. He leaned forward, his tongue slowly licked my broken lip. He watched me as he trailed my mouth. A blaze of need pounded between my legs.

Ryker drew back, swallowing. His eyes glinted, a rumble rolled from his chest, sounding wild and threatening.

It was instant, the shift. The taste of my blood.

“Ryker…?”

A growl flared from his throat. His muscles tightened under me. He pinned my body harder against the wall with his, grabbing my face forcefully. With a snarl, his hands slid down to my neck.

“Ryker. Don’t—” My plea cut off, his hands compressed around my neck. A thumb rubbed softly over my vocals. Then his eyes flared, a strangled cry wrenching out of him, full of pain. I saw him fully leave me. The curse battling for dominancy.

And winning.

He grunted. His shoulders grew, expanding with power. The thumb which had caressed my skin was now pushing into my throat. My mouth gaped for fresh air, which would not come. Spots dotted my vision as I fought against his hold. Like a cat put in water, I clawed, kicked, and hissed, but he did not relent.

“A promise is a promise.” He drew close to my ear, nipping. “And I never break my promises.”

He was going to kill me. It was exactly what I asked him to do, but I was no longer willing to go. Instinct to survive was ingrained deep, and when it came down to the moment, I fought. For myself. For him. For Lexie, Sprig, Croygen, Daniel…for the girl who was still trapped in Duc’s warehouse being used as an escort. For all the lives Rapava was destroying or would.

A heaviness gripped my brain, tugging sleepiness into my mind. My sight drifted down a dark ravine into blackness.

The sleeping pills, Zoey!
My gut cried at me. But my brain and body were no longer communicating. I tried to fight, to hold on, but I felt my limbs wilt and go limp at my sides. 
No!

I didn’t want to go out this way. If I were going to die, I wanted to be far away from DMG, where I knew my loved ones would be safe.

Anger punched my abdomen. All Ryker and I had been through, the love we finally found and let in. Was this how our story was going to end?

It felt life was mocking me again. Daniel’s death had been horrible, but this was vindictive and cruel. Memories of Ryker and me flashed in my head, our bodies intertwined, discovering each other. The moment by the creek in Peru where he told me about his past, when I realized I was falling for him. The night he curled up behind me because I had a bad dream. When he kissed me in the rain….the night he snuck into the closet while Amara was across the hall. Putting a birthday candle in the loaf of bread for me.

Every moment played out in my head with the man I fell for.

I held no blame or anger at Ryker as I felt my life slip from me. This was my doing. The only fury I could feel was at myself, for forcing him to do this, something he would have to live with.

I think we all wish for that epic ending, where everything is resolved and our death would have meaning. This was not the case.

A tear slipped down my face. A sorrow for what could have been.

The loss of hope and happiness.

And because my love wasn’t strong enough. This time we couldn’t fight and win.

I had lost.

Everything.

Not something I was good at.

I heard a strange pop as my life slipped across the divide into nothingness.